What’s happening in Taranaki to leverage opportunities and transition to a high-value, low-emissions future that ensures resilient enterprises and communities, and a regenerative environment.
Taranaki is a region forging its own path forward into a future that reflects a shared vision: a high value, low-emissions economy built on inclusivity and sustainability. We are working together to chart a course through an unprecedented period of change, to turn challenges into opportunities, and to create a future we want for our tamariki and mokopuna.
WHAT DOES THIS FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
- Thriving businesses and meaningful jobs.
- Environmental sustainability and a low-emissions profile.
- An inclusive region where no one is left behind.
- A strong entrepreneurship ecosystem so ideas and innovation can continue to flourish.
- A must-visit destination and an unrivalled place to live, work, invest and learn.
HOW WILL WE GET THERE?
We’re not waiting for someone else to come along and make this happen. It is up to us, to do the mahi needed to turn our vision into a reality. We’ve created a plan, that acts as a pathway to the future we want.
This plan is made up of actions, like bricks in the road, to take us there. These actions are being undertaken by the region, for the region. You can read more about this plan below.
WHAT DOES ACTION LOOK LIKE?
- Taranaki is at the forefront of new energy developments, building upon our powerhouse oil and gas sector, with solar, wind and hydrogen, the formation of Ara Ake, and WITT expanding its areas of energy training.
- Our food and fibres sector is branching out, with dairy still the heart of our food sector, along with meat, poultry and wood processing, but a much broader range of food and fibre enterprises establishing and scaling up, alongside restorative practices.
- Our visitor sector is looking to the future, at sustainable and regenerative opportunities, leveraging our food strengths, and bolstering our natural attractions like the Taranaki Crossing.
Businesses and households are becoming more conscious consumers, and taking real steps to reduce their environmental footprint.
HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?
For Taranaki to become the high-value, low emissions economy we want, everyone needs to play a part. Engaging with regional activities, and having your say in our plan, ensures everyone comes along for the ride. You can get involved by:
- attending a local event like Electricarna
- having a free sustainable homes assessment
- taking part in one of Sustainable Taranaki’s programmes or activities
- taking part in PowerUp, if you have a great business idea
- taking part in VT’s emissions reduction workshops or sustainability seminars, if you own a business
- driving forward a strategy action, or contributing to one
- letting us know your thoughts, opinions, and priorities for regional development by emailing [email protected]
Our regional strategies
Taranaki 2050 and Tapuae Roa are our regional development strategies, both designed to propel our region forward to a high value, low emissions future based on inclusivity and sustainability. From these strategic documents, an integrated programme of work comprising 161 actions has been developed. You can see the actions, and their current progress status here.
Taranaki 2050
Taranaki 2050 is a programme to help our region navigate the shift to a low-emissions future, while ensuring the important aspects of life can be better shared by everyone. From February - April 2019, the people of Taranaki created the content of the Roadmap through a co-design process. Over 1000 people took part in 23 workshops around the region on defined transition topics, as well as five community workshops and online surveys.
Following the launch of the draft Roadmap in May 2019, public consultation included visits to more than 40 locations with over 1,000 people. In August 2019, following 70,000 engagements the final Taranaki 2050 Roadmap was completed and twelve Transition Pathway Action Plans (TPAP) were developed in 2019 and 2020, which included: Arts; Infrastructure and Transport; People and Talent; Environmental Sciences; Health and Wellbeing; Tourism; Energy; Food and Fibre; Innovation and R&D; Regulatory; and Metrics.
Tapuae Roa
Tapuae Roa is Taranaki’s 2017/18 economic development strategy and action plan. It aims to grow the talent, entrepreneurial mindsets, skills and capabilities of the wider Taranaki community as the foundation of a truly modern economy. It envisages a lower-emissions future, but not at the same pace as we are now addressing.
Importantly, it highlights that people are key to taking economies forward. The four futures within Tapuae Roa are Energy; Food; Visitor Sector; and Māori Economy, underpinned by the four foundations of Talent, enterprise and innovation; Accessibility and connectivity; Vibrancy and liveability; and Investment.
Formation of Ngā Kaiwhakatere o Taranaki Leadership Group
Ngā Kaiwhakatere o Taranaki (the “navigators of Taranaki”) was established in 2020 to lead work across the region towards achieving the just transition vision outlined in the Taranaki 2050 Roadmap and Tapuae Roa. This is a group of regional leaders, representing pou across all of Taranaki, including local government, iwi, unions, business, education, community, and central government. Venture Taranaki, as the regional development agency, supports the facilitation and co-ordination of this group.
Taranaki 2050 in Conversation
The future vision of Taranaki is one of thriving businesses and meaningful jobs, environmental sustainability, a low-emissions profile, and an inclusive region where no one is left behind; a region that looks out for and cares for itself and its people.
We held an informative and engaging speakers’ series called Taranaki 2050 in Conversation, between 31 March and 30 June 2022, to discuss how we might reach this ambitious goal.
Taranaki 2050 in Conversation was a series of events that aimed to spark thought about the region's next steps and generate conversation about the strategic and future direction of Taranaki, as well as offering practical tools you could apply in your own enterprise.
Topics and speakers across the four events included:
- Melissa Clark-Reynolds, on using signals to spot trends and stay ahead of the curve
- Air New Zealand, on how they are transitioning to a new energy landscape
- Greenbridge, on how to incorporate regenerative design principles into community projects
- A collaboration with He Toronga Pakihi ki Taranaki, the Māori Business Network, on Māori economic development and enterprise
If you missed them, most of the events can be re-watched on our Youtube channel.
Colour our region’s path to the future
Earlier in 2022 we put a call out to tamariki asking them to colour the region’s path to the future, and 130 entries later, three winners have been chosen from the creative submissions.
The winners are Ocean McKenzie aged 5, Krisha Naidil aged 7, and Saffron Caldwell aged 13. Each will take home a new bike thanks to Mitchell Cycles.
Local artist Paul Rangiwahia was tasked with the difficult job of judging the competition. He said he chose the winners based on their distinctive styles, including Krisha’s "multi-media homerun", Saffron’s "zhuzhed up" additions such as the "Pak’n’Save advert and Mountain erupting", and five-year-old Ocean’s "abstract feel to the piece."
Competition has now closed but you can still download the colouring-in page if you wish. The image used for the colouring-in competition is a refined version of the Taranaki 2050 Roadmap, which launched in 2019 after an extensive co-design process with over 1000 people contributing from around Taranaki.
A huge thank you to everyone who entered.